And Then What Happened… That’s the question I asked myself in September 2022, after reaching the Canadian border following a 450-mile walk tracing the Underground Railroad. And Then What Happened…to the thousands of Freedom Seekers who arrived in Canada? Most U.S. story narratives about Freedom Seekers escaping to Canada end at the international border between the two neighboring countries. And Then What Happened?
Actor, Singer, Speaker Tracy Lee Johnson is a spirited and proud fifth generation Canadian descendant of Freedom Seekers from Tennessee, who escaped slavery in the 19th century. Tracy Lee helps answer some of my questions in this Zoom conversation where she talks about her family’s long history in Canada. She also answers the question for many others in public talks at schools, community centers and in her theatrical stage presentation called “And Then What Happened, Black Canadian History The Untold Stories.”
I met Tracy Lee over the summer during my walk to Owen Sound. She was one of our hosts in the City of Guelph, Ontario.
In our hour long talk, some of the more extraordinary parts of her family’s history involve the first relative to arrive in Canada in 1806, who used to be an enslaved body servant and coachman for Andrew Jackson; her great grandfather’s work with the All Black No. 2 Construction Battalion in WWI, and discovering some of the 12,500 descendants she is related to across Canada and the U.S.